VISUAL EDITING: THE NO-READ APPROACH

Basically, two types of rewriters reign in the business world. Anal rewriters slowly read and reread every line, shifting words, shuffling paragraphs, then rereading the whole document again. They’re perfectionists, never satisfied with the revision, yet never sure why. The other type, speedsters, are in a great hurry to get the piece out. They’re confident, too, zooming through a document, changing a word, maybe two words, then sending the document out.The plus side is that both types of writers attempt to rewrite. Both make two mistakes, though: (1) they reread their writing word by word (2) they edit for vague, undetectable problems.Rather than use the approach of either type of rewriter, try the visual editing process. That’s when you either skim your document or don’t read it at all, but instead look for signs of one or two of your most extreme problems. For example, a symptom of wordiness is a pileup of little, extra words. If you see them, cut and rewrite the sentence. Have boring opening lines? Skim for tired phrases, your company name, “I” or “we.”If you diligently rewrite for a few weeks, narrowly seeking out one or two problems and correcting them, you’ll notice two things:
1. Editing really is fast and easy — in fact, you do it automatically.
2. The problem shows up fewer times the next time you write. Soon, it rarely, if ever, crops up. Congratulations! Yo’ve overcome one bad habit. Now, move on to the next.

TRY THIS! For immediate benefit, read through the list of most common writing problems. Each time you review a problem in the book, check your writing samples. See it there? Great. You’re infinitely closer to eliminating it than you were only moments before. So you don’t forget, keep a list of your problems, determining which are constant and which only speckle your writing.